Welcome to Our Donation Page for Chen Chao, the Little Chinese Girl That Was
Attacked With Sulphuric Acid By Her 23 Year Old Cousin Who Has Schizophrenia
Chris Bloor will be returning to China in December to meet with her parents and to personally hand them your gifts.
The young students that first told Chris about Chen Chao outside a shopping center in Chengdu.
Chris meets with Chen Chao and her parents in China and shares more about her story.
Australian singer/songwriter, John Gift heard about Chen Chao and wrote a song for her.
The picture shows Chen Chao and her mom who is reading to her from the Chinese Bible Chris gave her on his last trip to China a few months ago.
The Story of Chen Chao in Chris Bloor's Words
One of my US clients, Dr. Myles Dixon from Dixon Family Chiro in Sioux Falls had learned I was going to China and had given me $2,000 to "Help some poor people with." To be honest, I was having a blast—accompanied by one of my Chinese friends I hit the streets of Chengdu in Southern China looking for people to help. Dr. Dixon and I had spoken about the famous "Free Hugs" video on YouTube.com and our desire was to take the concept to the next level. Don't just hug someone—really help them. This concept seems to be a passionate goal for each of us and it was Dr. Dixon's generosity that led me to the next step.
About sixty minutes into our foray we saw them—a group of young people standing outside a shopping center. They were holding a series of posters that showed a beautiful young Chinese girl and then, as you walked along, the posters changed to show someone that was so horribly injured it made us both go weak at the knees. My Chinese friend explained that the beautiful child in the posters was a young Chinese student, a twelve-year-old girl called Chen Chao. About three months earlier, her cousin, a schizophrenic, had attacked her in a fit of rage. He had poured a big container of sulphuric acid all over her.
As the realization of what had happened to this precious child began to sink into my mind, my Chinese friend shook my arm and said: "Chris. This girl should give up and die…" What happened next was like something out of a movie. I felt as if time itself was standing still. The noise of the busy street seemed to fade into the background and I was struck with the thought: Someone somewhere should do something to help this girl and her family. Someone somewhere needed to become the catalyst that creates something good out of so deep a heartache.
I looked at the thousands of Chinese people walking along the street and thought, even if these people wanted to help her, many of them would lack the resources to do so. It was at that moment that I decided to do my best to be "The Someone" and do my best to recruit a bunch of other people to be "The Someone" also.
People Reaching Out to Help I arrived back in Australia with the image of Chen Chao burned into my mind. I thought about her when I was awake, I dreamed about her when I was asleep and I started to share her story with just a few friends and business associates. One of them was well known Internet Marketer, Yanik Silver from www.SureFireMarketing.com. In March I traveled to Los Angeles to attend Yanik's Underground Seminar with some business friends. During one of the breaks, Yanik called me out into the foyer and handed me a check for $2,000 telling me "Please use this to help Chen Chao and her Family." Another client here in Australia, Adam Gilbert, sent me $500 whilst some friends here in my home town of Lismore in Northern New South Wales, Australia, handed me another $200 the day before I left.
I left the USA and went straight to Chengdu where my Chinese friends were waiting to greet me at the airport. On the 8th of April we boarded a train for the city of Chonching to visit the hospital where Chen Chao was receiving treatment. The train left at about 11:30 and took a little over three hours to reach Chonching. After the most frightening taxi ride of my life (trust me we had the taxi driver from hell) we arrived at the hospital and a few moments later were greeted by Chan Chao's father.
I had been very concerned as to how I should greet him. The Chinese are often a very reserved people and do not show their emotions as freely as we sometimes do in the West. Plus I had asked myself over and over again—"What in the world can anyone say to a parent who has experienced such a terrible event?" I needn't have worried. The moment we met, we just hugged one another. No language was needed. No fancy words. All the things I had
wanted to say to this man in my limited Chinese were not necessary. We were just two fathers. One with a broken heart over what had happened to his child and the other a Western father who simply wanted to reach out and say, "Friend, my heart is broken also." Chen Chao's father then took us into the hospital where we met with her doctor and her medical team. The doctor struck me as a really exceptional and dedicated young man.
SIDEBAR: I want to say that I have now been to China eight times. Prior to that I have had the opportunity to visit many different nations but no people have left such a positive lasting impression on me as have the Chinese.
My Chinese friends have turned out to be, without question, the best friends I have ever made in my life and my respect and admiration for the Chinese people—for their amazing culture, history and incredible work ethic (the Chinese are without doubt the hardest working people I have ever met) knows no bounds.
The doctor led us along some corridors and up a few flights of stairs to the room that has been Chen Chao's home for the last eight months.
Nothing, literally nothing in the entire world could have prepared me for what happened next… Lying on the bed was the most horrifically injured human being I had ever seen or could have possibly imagined. My Chinese friend that had accompanied me had previously told me that she would have to 'wait outside' as she had a very weak stomach and got faint at the sight of the slightest injury. I was amazed to see her walk into the room behind me and start to tell Chan Chao and her parents that they were loved and that other people cared about them.
Several hours later, this precious woman was still shaking like a leaf—in fact, I was convinced that she went into a state of severe shock over the sight of this young girl lying in bed with such terrible burns. To say that I was impressed by my assistant's kindness and bravery would be the understatement of the century. When I asked her, why she had not stayed outside as we had agreed, she replied that she wanted to reassure the parents that other people were heartbroken by their plight and to tell Chen Chao that she was still 'Beautiful on the Inside.' Truly the Chinese are an amazing people!
So Brave a Child I sat by Chen Chao's bed as her father and mother, pulled back her clothes to show me her injuries. In my business I am a copywriter—I write sales letters—have written hundreds and hundreds of them. So to say I have a way with words would be stating the obvious. But even now, here with the laptop on my knees in the comfort of my bedroom at home in Australia, I am totally at a loss to describe the emotion I felt. I sat by Chen Chao's bed, held her hand and cried like a baby. I told her in my broken Chinese that she was a good and a brave girl—that I loved her and that I had come to see her from Australia because I, along with some of my friends, wanted to help her and her parents.
I asked the doctors if I could pray for her and they said, "Of course." I prayed what felt like a very empty, helpless prayer, told Chen Chao "Chen Chao, Wo Ai Ni" (Chen Chao, I love you) and stood to leave the room. It was then that Chen Chao's father pointed to her and said in Chinese: "Look! She is crying!" Chen Chao has just one eye left (She lost her left eye in the attack) and that one eye was streaming tears. She then squeezed my hand and told me over and over in Chinese "Thank you Uncle!"
I believe this little girl and her parents are a very worthy cause. Let's do all we can to help them!
